How to build an oasis of shade in the desert

4mm-thick sheets of aluminium are folded to form three triangles. The top one shades the windows on the floor above, the middle one fits to the facade and the lower one protects the floor below.

Sheppard Robson

This article was taken from the September 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.

In summer temperatures of 45 degrees or more, this desert building's façade keeps the Sun's glare at bay, while letting light flood in. Siemens' new 22,800m2 HQ in the Abu Dhabi city of Masdar claims to be the Middle East's most ecologically friendly office building. "The façades contribute to a 65 per cent energy demand reduction, and a 50 per cent operational carbon reduction over other UAE offices," says David Ardill, partner at London-based architecture firm Sheppard Robson and design director on this project.

To create it, the architects wrote an algorithm specifying that each panel on the façade would be 1.5m wide and 3.5m high, and though they could bend and twist, they would be static. Despite the engineering required to build it, the Siemens building cost £24m -- £3m under budget. "This approach relied on computers at the design stage to create a clear, simple architectural idea that could be built inexpensively by a local workforce,placing no cost premium on sustainable architecture," says Ardill.

This article was first published in the September 2014 issue of WIRED magazine